How Manufacturers Can Energize Their Trade Show Cycle in 2017

Pamela Plagens is a Senior International Trade Specialist at the International Trade Administration

Manufacturers are always looking for synergies within their operations: when two things work together to deliver a result that’s greater than their individual impact.

Now, allow us at ITA help your company realize the synergy of participating in two very important events in 2017 to grow your international sales: Discover Global Markets: Advanced Manufacturing and HANNOVER MESSE.

Just like manufacturers look to maximize efficiencies in their operations, using both Discover Global Markets: Advanced Manufacturing and HANNOVER MESSE can provide synergies to your export business in 2017.

Here’s how you can parlay both events to take your export business to the next level:

The Discover Global Markets series offers a way for U.S. companies to gain specialized market intelligence from around the world at an unbelievable value. You can meet one-on-one with U.S. commercial diplomats from over 20 countries to gain customized market intelligence for your firm. Why travel to 20 different international markets when the markets can come to you?

An executive at Pampered Perch, a Texas-based manufacturer of products for nail and hair solons, had this to say after attending a previous Discover Global Markets event:

“This conference was extraordinarily well done…I got all the contacts I will need to pursue export opportunities in Canada, Singapore, and France. Thank you for your excellent, efficient and informative conference.”

Attending the Discover Global Markets event in sunny Scottsdale (in February, no less) is one of the most cost-effective ways to gain global market intelligence to your firm. Taking that market intelligence and finding willing buyers is the next step, which is where the HANNOVER MESSE fair comes in.

HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s largest industrial technology trade fair, featuring seven leading trade shows and an investment summit all in one. More than 200,000 attendees from more than 70 countries come to Hannover for the event – it’s a “who’s who” for both the manufacturing and technology industries where U.S. companies have had great success finding business partners.

As one example, Insequence, a Tennessee-based small business that makes software for the manufacturing and logistics industries, attended HANNOVER MESSE for the first time last year. They were looking for a way to promote their expansion into Europe, and as a result of attending HANNOVER MESSE the company was able to make sales in Europe and North America. Here’s what their marketing manager had to say after attending HANNOVER MESSE:

“We came into contact with potential end-user companies that we would have never met due to their geographical location. HANNOVER MESSE and the Commercial Service have provided us with substantial publicity, branding and public relations opportunity.”

HANNOVER MESSE is the place to put your market intelligence into action, it’s where you can show off your products, meet with prospective buyers, and move your new contacts towards that all-important purchasing decision. Booths in the U.S. pavilion at HANNOVER MESSE start at $7,200.

Finally, there’s a common thread that weaves itself between these two events that will delivery maximum value for your firm: the U.S. Commercial Service. The trade experts at the U.S. Commercial Service will support any and all of the attendees at Discover Global Markets: Advanced Manufacturing, as well as those U.S. companies who make the trip to HANNOVER MESSE. They will help you formulate your export strategy, identify the most promising international markets, help schedule meetings with buyers, and ensure you’re making the most of both events.

So as your 2017 calendar comes together with trade shows and events, I strongly encourage you to talk with the U.S. Commercial Service about how these two events can “work together” to save you thousands of dollars and take your export business to the next level.